Girish's Blog

Photo Credit: Intuitive Counsellor and Tarot Reader   The Sixth Sense Sixth sense, or subtle perception ability, is our ability to perceive the subtle-dimension or the unseen world of angels, ghosts, heaven etc. It also includes our ability to understand the subtle cause and effect relationships behind many events, which are beyond the understanding of the intellect. Extrasensory perception (ESP), clairvoyance, premonition, intuition, all are synonymous with the sixth sense or subtle perception ability. We perceive the gross or seen world through the five physical senses (i.e. smell, taste, sight, touch and sound), our mind (our feelings), and our intellect (decision making capacity). When it comes to the unseen world or the subtle-world, we perceive it through the five subtle-senses, the subtle-mind and the subtle-intellect – this is what is known as our sixth sense. When the sixth sense is developed or activated, it helps us to experience the subtle-world or subtle-dimen...

  The Aura Photo of His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swami Who is a Satguru? Having a teacher to guide us in any field is invaluable. This is true in Spirituality as well. As Spirituality is subtle or intangible in nature, it is difficult to identify with certainty who is a spiritually evolved guide or Satguru. A Satguru is very different to a teacher or a preacher. He is a beacon of spiritual light in our world, and teaches us the universal spiritual principles that underlie all religions and cultures. There are various aspects to the Supreme God Principle. These various aspects of God perform specific functions in the Universe. This is pretty much akin to the government of any country which has various departments to facilitate the smooth governing and functioning of the country as a whole. Just as we have a department for education in a government, which facilitates teaching of modern sciences throughout the country, the aspect of God that looks after spiritual teaching and spir...

  Photo Credit: SSRF Principles of Spirituality - 2 Going From One to Many The impact of our efforts is much more powerful when we concentrate our efforts on the one, instead of the many. Which is more effective? Digging one well to access water which is 10 meters deep or digging 10 wells of 1 meter each. Accruing frequent flyer miles from various airlines or sticking to just one airline. The following is how this principle works depending on the various generic paths to God. Path of Action ( Karmayoga ) : In the initial stage, a seeker gives alms to several beggars. In the next stage, he focuses his efforts on a single cause such as a donation to a school or a hospital. Path of Knowledge ( Dnyānyoga ) : After studying various spiritual texts from new age philosophy to religious texts, a seeker finally turns to a single one that has the most percentage of spiritual truth in it. Path of Devotion ( Bhaktiyoga ) : A seeker progresses from worship of several Deities to th...

  Photo Credit: Facebook | Maharshi University of Spirituality The Path of Guru’s Grace While there are many generic paths to God, the path of Guru’s Grace (Guru Krupa) is the most important from the point of view of achieving the ultimate in spiritual evolution. In every aspect of life, it is best if we have a guide or a teacher to help us understand, learn and progress. Making spiritual progress is no exception to this Universal rule and it is only by the grace of the eternal Guru Tattva acting through a Guru in human form, that a student makes rapid spiritual progress. No matter what spiritual path we are on, if we try and do it on our own, we can reach only up to a particular spiritual level. Beyond this, Guru’s grace is an absolute necessity to take us to the next level. Krupa in Sanskrit means ‘to be compassionate’. Gurukrupa or Guru’s Grace is the medium through which the spiritual path opens up for the disciple after which the disciple’s soul unites wit...

  Photo Credit: Global Bihari How to Atone for Sin Most of us feel sorry and regretful on realising that we have done something wrong, even children feel guilt of they think they have done something that they should not have! We immediately end up saying sorry and the child learns how to apologise. A person who makes mistakes and does evil deeds incurs sin. All of us are bound to incur sin at some time or the other, that is the nature of human life. The question is how do we atone for the sin to eliminate its effects? It is possible to eliminate the greatest sin by strictly following the path of righteousness with complete faith and courage. Depending on our basic temperament, stage in life and other factors, adhering to righteousness involves penance, control over the mind, sense organs and motor organs, control over the body, sacrifice, purity of behaviour and so on. Putting our entire effort to protect righteousness absolves us of all sins, but this is difficult to follow in...

Photo Credit: SSRF Principles of Spirituality - 4 Spiritual Practice as per the Era There is a time for all things. This is true for spiritual practice too. If the right thing happens at the wrong time, then the desired result is not achieved. For example, if seeds are sown in the dry months instead of the rainy season, they do not take root, no matter how fertile the land is. Similarly, certain types of spiritual practices are more conducive for spiritual growth depending on the era of the universe that they are practiced in. As per the Sanatan Dharma and the ancient Indian scriptures there is a cycle of four eras or Yugas – Satyayug (Era of Knowledge) , Tretayug (Era of Penance and Meditation) , Dwaparyug (Era of Ritualistic Worshi) and Kaliyug (Era of Strife – path of chanting the Name of God along with personality defect removal and ego removal) . We are currently living in the Kaliyug , in fact as per the calculation of the cycles as of 2022 we are in 5124 th year of th...

  Photo Credit: SSRF Principles of Spirituality - 3 According to Spiritual Level or Capacity We must check that the spiritual practice we choose is as per our spiritual capacity or spiritual level. A student, who has passed grade 3, will not be able to sit for the grade 4 exams if he has been continually studying only the grade 3 syllabus. So too spiritual seekers should try to improve their capacity to do spiritual practice so as to not get stuck at one level of spiritual practice. Let us go through the various stages of development from more gross forms of worship to more subtle forms as per the level of the seeker: At an initial level we feel that we can make contact with the Divine only by going to a place of worship and through praying to a statue of God or a Divine Being. Next, we feel a connection with the Divine not just through rituals but through reading spiritual books whilst sitting in the place of worship. In the next stage we feel tha...